


Glass Eyes

by tenesol



Category: Final Life
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Amnesia, Angst, Here we go, Lonely Sion, Mentions of Suicide, Protective Ryo, Protective Sion, Ryo is a Good Big Brother, Song Sion is a Smol Precious Bean, Weird Plot Shit, but no ghosts, questionable mental states, round two, sort of a ghost town?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-25
Updated: 2020-01-05
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:54:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21552610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tenesol/pseuds/tenesol
Summary: "Get in fast," the young man said solemnly. "It's not safe outside."•Ryo gets lost in a storm and manages to find a small, out-of-the-way town. The motel clerk is... strange, to say the least, but hardly the strangest thing about the place.
Relationships: Song Sion & Kawakubo Ryo
Comments: 6
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter 1

The blades of the windshield wipers cut through the torrent of rain over and over, but it didn’t help much. No moon or stars shone through the thick cover of clouds. There were no streetlights, there weren’t even other headlights. Maybe it was just that no one was dumb enough to try driving through a storm like this.

Swearing under his breath, Ryo searched the road for signs. The constant flood of rain made it so that he could only get glimpses every now and then. During those glimpses, all he saw was dry plains. Everywhere.

He tried his phone again. Honda’s name appeared on the screen as the phone rang. And rang. And-

_“We’re sorry. Your call could not be connected at this time. If you would like to-”_

Ryo hung up with a growl. That was all he had been getting for the past four hours, he was pretty sure he had the spiel memorized by now. Any time he tried to look up directions, too. It never loaded. He was stuck out in a storm, in the middle of nowhere, with a non-working phone. Risa was going to tear him a new one for being late.

Wait a second. Squinting through the rain, Ryo tapped the brakes. The windshield wiper slid through the waterfall on his windshield, revealing a dull neon light a ways away.

Finally.

The next twenty minutes consisted of Ryo’s attempts to find the _damn road_ , but he managed to do so without running into a ditch, so he decided it was a win.

Ryo drove slowly through the town. It was small, only one gas station, but that made it easier to find the motel. He hated motels – suspicious places that they were – but desperate times.

Parking his car and wrapping his coat a little tighter around himself, Ryo jogged up to the front door. It wasn’t that much warmer than outside, but it was drier. Probably.

The door clicked shut behind him and he walked up to the unmanned desk. Just as he was about to ring the bell, someone stepped halfway around the corner.

Ryo’s brow furrowed. The young man tilted his head, his soft blue hair falling into his eyes.

“Room?” the young man asked. His voice was raspy, like he hadn’t used it in a while.

“Uh…” Ryo glanced behind the young man. “Yeah. Just for the night, I’ll be leaving in the morning.”

The young man ducked his head, silently walking behind the desk and grabbing a room key. He held it out to Ryo.

“Get in fast,” he said solemnly. His eyes unsettled Ryo – a dull blue-grey, despite his Asian features. “It’s not safe outside.”

Ryo nodded warily and the young man dropped the key into his hand. When he started to turn away, Ryo spoke up.

“Wait, how much does it cost?”

The young man tilted his head. “Cost?”

“Yeah. How much for the room?”

Shrugging, the young man’s empty eyes shifted away. “No cost. Sleep well.”

Ryo blinked and the young man was gone, his footsteps fading around the corner.

For a moment, Ryo just stood there. He shook his head and pulled out his wallet, leaving a twenty on the desk.

Stepping outside, he went to get his things from the car. The rain was still heavy and pelted against his back as he leaned across the driver’s seat to get his bag.

His key, he found, went to the room closest to the front desk. Unlocking the door and stepping inside, dripping wet on the floor, Ryo flipped the light switch.

A nightstand with a lamp on it next to a queen-sized bed against one wall. Bathroom door on the opposite wall. No TV, but no garish décor, either. There was a table and a chair next to the motel room door. The lights worked, and when he looked, the bathroom was clean. Might not have hot water, but he didn’t check.

All in all, it was an impressively well-kept room, if not a little bare. At least for a motel.

Ryo shrugged off his coat, laying over the back of the chair. His clothes thankfully hadn’t been drenched. They were a little damp, but not unbearable.

Pulling his phone out of his pocket, Ryo checked it for a signal. Nothing. Maybe he should’ve asked the young man for a Wi-Fi password.

He checked the time. Nearly midnight. Releasing a deep breath, Ryo set his phone on the nightstand and crawled under the covers.

Hopefully the rain would be lifted in the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first multiple chapter story I'll be posting. I already have it all outlined, so I just need to write and post. I'll be posting a chapter every Sunday. Thank you!


	2. Chapter 2

Ryo tossed his bag into the passenger seat of his car and hurried over to the front desk. When he opened the door, it was completely silent. Maybe that was a weird thing to notice, but didn’t motels usually have bells on the door?  
  


Crossing over to the desk, Ryo noticed that the money he had left was still there. His eyebrows raised and he glanced around. The young man was nowhere in sight, even when he peered into the back room. There weren’t any lights on except for a small lamp next to the bell on the desk.

“Hello?” he called. “I’m leaving.”

No response.

Ryo frowned. “I’ll just leave the key on the desk, then. Thank you for letting me stay.”

His words were again met with silence, but it seemed to press in on him with a strange sense of foreboding.

He set the key on the money he had left the night before and took his leave.

Sliding behind the steering wheel, Ryo put his key in the ignition and twisted. Nothing.

His brow furrowed as he let the car sit for a moment, then turned the key again. Still nothing. Not even a hum.

Just silence.

Ryo opened the car door and stepped out, walking up to the motel’s front room for the second time that morning. He stepped inside. “Hello? Is there someone I can talk to?”

After another moment of nothing, he reached for the bell.

“You have a problem,” the young man’s voice came.

Ryo looked up sharply. “Yes, I do. Why didn’t you come earlier?”

“Is that your problem?”

Sighing, Ryo shook his head. “No. My car won’t work.”

The young man’s eyes dropped to the floor. “I know,” he whispered.

Ryo’s eyes narrowed. “You know? Did you do something to it?”

“No.”

“Do you know who did?”

The young man hesitated, fingers curling into the sleeves of his jacket. “…No.”

They stood there for a moment, Ryo staring him down and the young man skillfully avoiding eye contact. Ryo took a deep breath.

“Is there someone in town I can find to fix it?” he asked, dropping the matter of how his car got broken.

The young man shook his head.

“No one? No mechanics, no one who knows anything about cars?”

“There isn’t anyone.”

Ryo groaned, running a hand through his hair. “Alright, then is there someone I can rent a car from? Or could someone give me a ride to the next town over?”

“There isn’t anyone.”

Pausing, Ryo raised an eyebrow. “Come on, kid. There has to be someone.”

The young man’s pale eyes stared at him, emotionless.

“There isn’t _anyone_ ,” he repeated. “No one.”

Something heavy settled in Ryo’s gut. “No one at all,” he said flatly. “In the entire town, there’s no one but you?”

The young man’s hands gripped his jacket tighter and he swallowed, not answering. For the first time, Ryo noticed that his eyes were red-rimmed as if he had been crying, and his hands were shaking.

An irrational sense of unease hooked into Ryo’s chest, and he left without another word.

He walked briskly down the sidewalk, eyes darting around, searching for someone he could ask for help. The further he got, the deeper his dread settled.

There _was_ no one.

Every store, every house, every building Ryo walked past, none of them had any lights on. The windows were all dark, and no one walked or drove past him. Looking closer, he found that some of the buildings appeared to have been abandoned a long time ago – walls crumbling, broken windows, ivy crawling up the sides.

Ryo reached the gas station he had driven past the night before.

“Hello?” he called, poking his head into the corner store. “Hello, is anyone in here?”

No response.

He ran all the way back to the motel.

Flinging the door open, Ryo stalked over to the desk and rang the bell until the young man appeared from around the corner.

“Find what you were looking for?”

“Where is everyone?” Ryo demanded.

The young man shrugged, taking a seat behind the desk. “Gone.”

“Gone _where_?”

The young man leveled Ryo with a dead look. “Gone.”

Ryo grit his teeth. “Then why are you still here?”

Gaze falling, the young man curled into himself. “I can’t leave,” he said. His voice held a barely perceptible tremor, but Ryo was trained to notice such things.

“Why not?”

The young man shook his head, seemingly unwilling to answer.

Heaving a sigh, Ryo straightened to his full height and crossed his arms. “Look, I’m going to go to the next town I can find. Come with me.”

“I told you, I can’t leave.”

“If you won’t come with me now, I’ll come back with a car and drag you out,” Ryo said firmly. “Just save us both the trouble.”

The young man seemed to take pause at that. He peered up at Ryo through his hair. “You’d really… you’d come back for me?”

Ryo raised an eyebrow. “I’m not leaving some kid in an abandoned town. Where are your parents, anyway? Are they ‘gone’, too?”

“Don’t have any.”

“Alright, well, I’m definitely not leaving you without a legal guardian.”

A smile danced on the young man’s lips. “I’m nineteen.”

“Could’ve fooled me, with that baby face,” Ryo shot back. “Now, are you coming or what?”

The small light in the young man’s eyes vanished, along with his smile and what little hope Ryo had for convincing him. “I can’t,” he said. “I’m sorry.”

Ryo nodded once. “I’ll be back. A few days is all it should take.”

“Good luck,” the young man offered.

“Yeah, thanks.”

The young man spoke up again when Ryo was halfway out the door.

“If you leave, I’d advise you to not come back.”

Frowning, Ryo turned back to give a questioning look to the young man, who gave another hesitant smile in return. But this one… this one held an undercurrent of sadness that Ryo couldn’t decipher. “It’d be best if you stayed away.”

“And why is that?”

Ryo didn’t miss the way the light shone off of the young man’s eyes.

“Coming back wouldn’t be worth it, in the end.”


	3. Chapter 3

Thick white clouds covered the sky. The town seemed to pull them down and wear them like a blanket, making it nearly impossible to see past a few buildings at a time. Rows of corner stores and small houses were shadows in the fog, fading into the gray-white. A modest playground stood empty and silent.

Everything was silent, actually.

Ryo’s footsteps were the only sound in the entire town as he walked down the sidewalk. The _thud, thud, thud_ of his shoes sounded like gunshots.

He almost felt guilty for disturbing the quiet. Almost. The silence felt more suffocating than anything. Besides, the town deserved it.

Slowing to a halt, Ryo glared at the playground’s swing set.

He had passed that swing set eleven times. How did he keep walking in circles when the town was so small?

Ryo rubbed his eyes, taking a deep breath. Walking was getting him nowhere. His car was broken by someone the unsettling motel clerk refused to talk about, and even though the young man had said that he was the only person living in the town, Ryo doubted that was the case. Unless the young man had been lying about not breaking the car in the first place.

Movement caught Ryo’s attention and he raised an eyebrow.

Well. Speak of the devil.

The young man shouldered a backpack, stepping over the shattered glass door of a corner store on the other side of the street. A bouquet of flowers tightly held in one hand, he began walking away from Ryo, seemingly not even noticing the older man.

Watching the young man, Ryo considered his options. Keep walking and hope he doesn’t see the swing set for the twelfth time, or find out what the kid was doing with flowers?

Ryo frowned. How did he even _get_ flowers? Sure, there was light, but there was no _sun_. The clouds made sure of that. Jogging across the street, Ryo caught up with the young man fairly quickly, seeing as the other wasn’t putting much energy into walking.

“Hey-”

Something flew towards his face without warning and he barely moved in time.

“Hey!” he exclaimed, holding his hands out in front of him. He felt like he was trying to calm an animal, and the wild look in the young man’s eyes made it a fairly accurate comparison. “It’s just me, kid.”

The young man blinked once, twice – still ready to swing his backpack like a weapon if need be – and his face went carefully blank.

“Oh.” The backpack dropped, and so did Ryo’s hands. “What are you doing?”

Ryo narrowed his eyes. “What am _I_ doing? You just attacked me with a backpack.”

“I thought…” the young man trailed off. “I thought you left.”

That was obviously not what the young man was going to say, but Ryo let it slide. “I’m trying. Do you think you can show me where the edge of town is? I remember passing the gas station on my way in, but I think I’m walking in circles.”

The corners of the young man’s mouth twitched downwards. “You are.”

“That’s… what I said, yeah. Can you show me where the town line is, or…?”

“If I could, do you think I’d still be here?”

Ryo’s brow furrowed. “You don’t know where it is?”

The young man shook his head and turned his back on Ryo, continuing down the sidewalk.

Slightly taken aback, Ryo stared at the young man’s back before shaking his head and moving to catch up.

“You keep walking in circles, right?” the young man went on as if nothing had happened. “You keep walking and it feels like you’re going in a straight line, until you pass something for what you realize is the millionth time?”

That was the most Ryo had hear the young man say in one sentence. “Yeah. The swing set.”

The young man’s face darkened for a split second before smoothing out again. “It’s the town.” His voice went quieter. “You can get in, but you can’t get out.”

Ryo’s step faltered as he took a moment to process. “Wait… how is that possible? That’s not possible.”

“That’s what I thought, too. But here I am.”

A thought occurred. “If no one can leave, where is everyone? Why are you the only one here?” _Please don’t be the answer Ryo thought it was_.

The set of the young man’s shoulders went rigid.

“Dead,” he muttered.

And there it was.

“…Can I ask how?” Ryo broke the silence they had been walking in after a moment.

Sadness bled into the young man’s eyes, along with something else. Anger?

“I don’t want to talk about it,” the young man said, voice rough.

Ryo opened his mouth to apologize when the young man cut him off. “Don’t stay out too late.”

“Wait-”

“Get back to the motel before dark.” The young man sped up, putting distance between himself and Ryo. “I lock the doors when the sun sets.”

Exasperation welled up in Ryo’s mind. “Kid. Wait.”

Pausing, the young man glanced at Ryo with an underlying air of impatience.

“I…” Ryo sighed. He wasn’t the best with words. “What’s your name?” he asked carefully.

The young man stared at Ryo for a good fifteen seconds, eyes narrowed. “I’m called Sion,” he finally answered.

“Sion, I’m sorry for upsetting you.”

Ryo hoped that Sion would see his admittedly surprising sincerity through the flimsy words. He never claimed to be good at comfort or reassurance, usually leaving that part of the police work to Asada.

The cold in Sion’s eyes softened, just barely. It looked like less of a wall and more of a void, and Ryo wasn’t sure which one he preferred.

“I’m not upset.” Sion sounded hollow, but Ryo didn’t point it out. Sion knew how he sounded; Ryo could see it in the all-to familiar mask of indifference the kid wore. “Make sure to be back at the motel before dark.”

Watching Sion leave, Ryo came to a decision.

Time to figure out what was _really_ going on.


	4. Chapter 4

Biting back a curse, Ryo darted behind a wall and held his breath.

He’d lost count of how many times this had happened. If someone had told him that a nineteen-year old kid would be the hardest person he’d ever had to follow, he would’ve laughed. But here he was. Hiding for the hundredth time, because apparently, Sion was even more paranoid than they had already established.

Both of them were silent for a moment, waiting the other out. Footsteps sounded again and Ryo sagged against the wall with an inward groan.

He stayed there for a good half a minute before deeming it safe to continue. Carefully looking around the corner, Ryo saw Sion about fifteen yards ahead.

Ryo frowned as he realized where they were. He glanced at the motel, just across the road, and the furrow in his brow deepened when Sion turned to walk in the other direction.

The forest.

Confused, Ryo quietly slipped to another place of concealment. Was the forest a part of the town? Sion surely wouldn’t be heading there if it wasn’t, but it raised an interesting question.

Sion hesitated at the edge of the forest. Ryo watched as the younger reached out and brushed his fingers against one of the trees.

His hand fell, and he stepped under the cover of the leaves.

Ryo sighed. Sneaking around was so much easier on a concrete sidewalk.

As soon as he entered the forest, however, it became apparent that he no longer needed to.

For the first while, Ryo tried his best to avoid any dry leaves, stepping only on clear parts of the ground. He used tree roots, too, bracing himself on the trees’ trunks and wiping his hands on his pants when they came away sticky.

Sion was fairly easy to keep track of. His blue hair stood out from the browns and dull greens of the mossy trees. The leaves were no longer green, a few of them fluttering to the ground when the branches swayed with a gentle wind.

_Crack!_

Freezing, Ryo glanced down at the brittle stick he’d stepped on. There was no way Sion hadn’t heard that. Maybe this time, he wouldn’t miss when he swung that backpack of his.

A minute passed and Ryo didn’t have a bruise on the side of his head. He looked up.

Sion ducked under a low branch, back still turned to Ryo and not acknowledging his presence as if nothing happened.

Definitely strange. But Ryo wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. He paid more attention to the ground as he continued following the younger.

Up ahead, the trees opened up into a clearing, and Sion slowed down. Ryo found a good place to hide and crouched down, peering through the bushes to get a good look at the clearing.

His blood ran cold.

The clearing was filled with graves.

Sion left his backpack at the edge of the clearing and approached one of the graves, the motion attracting Ryo’s attention. He silently lowered himself to the ground, kneeling in front of the tombstone.

“…Hi, Kana.”

Ryo watched Sion fiddle with the flowers he held, curling into himself.

“I brought you some more flowers,” he said quietly. Ryo had to strain to hear him. “The shelf said that they were heather and tea roses, but… I just thought…” Sion sighed. “They just made me think of you.”

Objectively, Ryo had been intruding the whole time, but now he was actually starting to feel like he was. When he’d started following Sion, he hadn’t expected… this.

Ryo scanned the rest of the graveyard in an attempt to give Sion some semblance of privacy. Most of the tombstones were blank, and a few of them weren’t stone at all, just thin pieces of plywood stuck in the ground. He counted at least forty.

“I wish you were still here.” Sion’s voice was getting concerningly thick. “Being here wasn’t so bad, with you. Less lonely. Less dull. Everything’s so dull.”

Damn it. Ryo could most definitely not handle listening to someone cry, and it sounded suspiciously like that was where this was going. He was about to stand up and take his leave when:

“Someone new came into town.”

Faltering, Ryo checked to see if Sion had heard him stumble.

The younger’s posture had relaxed some, and he picked at the grass in front of him.

“He’s… different.” Sion shifted, stretching his legs out in front of him. “He talks like he’s in the middle of an interrogation. I think he’s a cop or something.”

Sion was quiet for a moment. “He says he’s going to leave. Obviously he says that, that’s what everyone says, but… I think he actually might. He also told me that he’d come back for me when he gets to a working car, can you believe that?”

Unaware of the way Ryo frowned at the question, Sion continued. “I hope he does end up making it out.”

Sion lifted a hand to wipe at his face. Ryo’s discomfort grew at the sight of the wet spot on the sleeve of Sion’s shirt when he dropped his hand back down.

“I don’t want to have to bury him, too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> White heather symbolizes protection and wishes coming true, and tea roses mean 'I will remember always'.
> 
> I was originally planning to knock out the rest of this story today so I could work on another fic while still posting this every week, but I accidentally left the chapter outlines at my dad's :')


	5. Chapter 5

Ryo gazed up at the clouded sky, swaying in the swing he’d made himself at home on. Nothing moved except him and the swing. The town, still and silent, watched as the daylight turned dim.

After Sion’s conversation with the grave, Ryo had left, reeling with more questions than he’d had when he arrived. The amount of graves in the hidden graveyard didn’t make sense – even for a town this small, there had to be more than forty people that had lived here. No one was alive except Ryo himself and Sion, so where had everyone else gone? Sion had told him they were all dead, but if that were they case, why would only forty of them be buried? Was there another graveyard?

Another thing was _how_ they had all died. The entire town was empty; again, with the exception of himself and Sion. So what had killed the inhabitants?

And of course, the obvious issue: why couldn’t the living leave?

Heaving a sigh, Ryo stood. The chains of the swing clinked behind him as he walked away, heading back to the motel. Sion had said – or rather, warned – to be back before dark. He figured he was already pushing it.

Shadows crept through the town like an ocean tide, swelling and drowning everything they touched. Ryo pulled out his cell phone and turned on the flashlight right as the battery died.

Of course. Because what better time was there for his phone to die but now?

He stuffed his hands in his pockets, trudging past the gas station. Its lights flickered and went out.

Ryo studied the station with a knitted brow. Upon glancing around, he discovered that every other building went dark as well, one by one as if the shadows were a sickness, spreading from structure to structure.

A tingle in the base of his spine grew, flooding throughout his body. It seized his heart, built up in the back of his throat, tore down into his legs. _Run, run, run_.

Never one to doubt his instincts, Ryo ran.

As he sprinted down the road, his eyes searched the spaces between buildings and he realized a very important fact.

He wasn’t alone.

The darkness rippled, shadows darting from nook to cranny, always keeping pace but never coming closer.

Feet pounding against the pavement, he turned down the street the motel was on. He could see it, in the distance. _So close. Just a little farther, just a little more_.

Or, it would have been. But the dark was relentless.

The night collapsed, surged over the dead town and slammed into Ryo with the force of a train. He could _feel_ it, thick and choking and weighing down on him enough to make him fall to his knees.

Ryo gasped for air, the rough concrete under his hands slicing into his palms. The black rendered him blind, and his ears rang with the dark’s feverish excitement.

The shrieking around him rose to a frenzy, and as suddenly as it had come, it was gone.

Dazed, Ryo lifted his head, his vision blurring in and out. One thing came into focus.

The motel.

Get to the motel.

It took Ryo a few tries to get to his feet. Everything moved like the town was encased in amber, slow and syrupy, and he couldn’t seem to walk straight.

Finally stumbling through the door, Ryo collapsed against the front desk. His head pounded, a steady _thud, thud, thud_ , in time with the hammering of his heart, and he sank to the floor.

Silence filled the room for a few blissful seconds.

The door flew open and banged against the adjacent wall. Ryo jolted at the sound, eyes wide, and only had a moment to stabilize himself before a figure crashed into his chest.

Air knocked out of his lungs from the impact, he fell over.

“You’re safe,” Sion gasped. “You’re safe.”

Ryo’s arms wrapped around the smaller boy, holding him tight against Ryo’s chest. His ears were still ringing.

“Sorry,” he managed. Although, he wasn’t quite sure what he was apologizing for. “I’m sorry.”

Sion jumped when the darkness outside crashed into the door, his fingernails biting painfully into Ryo’s back. The entire building shook with the force of the night’s rage, and Ryo hugged Sion protectively as the younger clung to him.

“It’s alright, it can’t get in,” he found himself murmuring, the older brother instincts he had thought he’d lost taking over. His face was buried in Sion’s hair, their limbs were tangled together with knees and elbows digging into each other, but it soothed something in Ryo’s chest.

Pressing his face into Ryo’s neck, Sion squeezed his eyes shut as he trembled with the building after each blow from the thing outside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all have a great Christmas!


	6. Chapter 6

They stayed there until morning. Even after the shadows receded, even after the light from outside began to creep inside, neither of them wanted to let go.

Ryo was the first to speak. “Sion.”

Breathing shakily, Sion pulled away. “Yeah. I know,” he mumbled.

“Alright.” Ryo propped himself up on his elbows, the younger’s weight on his legs preventing him from sitting up any further. “Do you want to go somewhere else?”

It was admirable, the way Sion steeled himself. “The back room. I’ll be there in a second, go get comfortable.”

Sion rose, disappearing around the corner a second later. Getting up, Ryo grimaced at the stinging in his legs. They’d fallen asleep – unsurprising, but irritating.

He limped over to the corner, peering down the dimly lit hallway. The walls on either side were an off-white, just like the rest of the place, but there were no picture frames hanging from the nails sticking out of the plaster.

The hall ended at a small room with a single couch, a chair, and a short table, and Ryo could hear glass clinking through an doorway in one of the walls.

Sion appeared in said doorway, a steaming mug in each hand.

“Are you going to sit?” he asked softly, making his way to the chair.

Following silently, Ryo sank into the couch cushions and accepted the mug held out to him.

They sat quietly for a few moments, sipping tea from their mugs. Sion’s eyes seemed far away, and the longer Ryo watched him, the more concerned he became.

“Sion.” He set his mug on the table and the noise snapped Sion back to himself. “What was that?”

Sion’s grip on the mug tightened. “I don’t know. It comes out every night, but it can’t enter the motel for some reason.”

Ryo nodded. “Okay. What about _them_?” The darkness was one thing, but the barely-there forms darting through it…

The distinction wasn’t lost on Sion, if the way his jaw clenched was anything to go by.

“I’m not sure,” Sion responded. “I think… I think they used to be human. They spoke to me, once.”

A cold feeling washed over Ryo, raising the hairs on the back of his neck and arms. “What did they say?”

Sion fiddled with his mug. “They told me my name. I couldn’t remember, it had been too long since I heard it. I don’t believe them, though.”

“They gave you a name?” Ryo’s brow furrowed. “Why would they do that?”

A shrug was the only response Sion gave.

Taking another sip of his tea, Ryo let himself get lost in the warmth of it sliding down his throat. The next question he had wasn’t one he was excited to ask.

“And the graves?”

Sion’s eyes drained of any emotion, leaving them with that empty look once more. Like they were made of glass.

“I told you, no one leaves.” His voice was flat, robotic. “Not unless they die. Some of them get caught by the night and vanish. Some of them… some of them get desperate. Your gun is the only one here, but there are plenty of other things to kill yourself with.”

The heaviness in Ryo’s gut kept him from taking another sip of his tea.

“How long have you been here?” he asked quietly.

Pulling his feet up onto the chair, Sion wrapped his arms around his knees. “I came here over eight months ago,” he said. “I don’t know how much over, I stopped keeping track. I wasn’t alone, at first. I was with my girlfriend.” His knuckles went white, fingers pressing into his arms. “Her name was Kana. She was- she was my everything.”

Ryo didn’t want to ask. “What happened?”

“She got desperate. Locked herself in one of the motel rooms and tied all of the sheets together.”

“…I’m sorry for your loss.” The words felt so hollow. Inadequate.

“I buried her the next day,” Sion continued, either not hearing or not caring to accept Ryo’s words. “The grass has grown back over her, so it’s been a while. I stopped keeping track after she died.”

Silence filled the room.

Thinking over his next words carefully, an idea began to form in Ryo’s head.

“Sion,” he began, “have you ever seen the things in daylight?”

A frown crossed Sion’s face. “No. Why?”

“What do you think would happen if they got caught in light?”

Eyes widening fractionally, Sion shook his head. “Absolutely not,” he hissed. “That’s a stupid plan, you’ll get yourself killed.”

“Sion, think about it-”

“I am.”

“-if they stay in the dark, it could mean they can’t be in light. What if we could kill them? It’d be easier to find a way to leave if they’re dead.”

Sion glared. “Did you forget how easily the night took you out? You’d die in the first three minutes you were out there.”

“If you don’t want to do it, then fine,” Ryo assured. “Do you know what it wants?”

“I _don’t_. I don’t know any more than you do.” Standing abruptly, Sion picked up his mug from the table. “I’m done listening to your stupid attempts at a plan. Make sure to be inside before dark tonight, I’m not saving your ass again.”

Right.

Ryo grabbed Sion’s wrist as the younger moved to walk away. “I didn’t thank you. I don’t know what you did, but thank you.”

The look Sion gave him was analytical. “…You’re welcome. What’s your name?”

Oh. Ryo never gave Sion his name? “Sorry. Ryo Kawakubo,” he said.

“Ryo Kawakubo.” His name rolled off of Sion’s tongue easily. “Now I know what to put on your grave when you die doing something reckless.”

Ryo almost smiled, until he remembered what Sion had said to his girlfriend’s grave.

_I don’t want to have to bury him, too_.

He squeezed Sion’s wrist a little. “That won’t be necessary. I’ll get us both out of here before that happens, Sion. I promise.”

Sion’s eyes darkened. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” he muttered.

Jerking his arm out of Ryo’s hand, Sion left the room.

For a moment, Ryo sat there, lost in thought. He shook himself out of his stupor and stood.

He _would_ get them out of this town. If it was the last thing he ever did, he would.


	7. Chapter 7

Groaning in frustration, Ryo kicked the front bender of his car. The hood of the car, propped up on the support rod, wobbled threateningly.

“You know, beating it up isn’t going to make it work.”

Ryo glanced over at the motel’s open front door to find Sion standing there, a corner of his mouth quirked in amusement.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with it.” He ran a hand through his hair, probably making it stick up in all sorts of directions. Not that he cared. He had other things on his mind. “How am I supposed to fix it if I don’t know what’s wrong with it?”

“No clue. I’m not a car person,” Sion said breezily.

Neither was Ryo.

He shut the hood of the car with a sigh. “I guess we’ll be walking out, then.”

Humming in assent, Sion shifted his weight from one foot to the other and winced.

Ryo tilted his head. “Are you alright?”

“Hm? Oh. I’m fine, yeah. Do you want something to drink?”

The quick change of subject was almost at concerning as the faux innocent look on Sion’s paler-than-usual face. “Sion-”

“I’m going to go get something to drink,” Sion cut him off. The younger retreated into the motel’s back room and Ryo rolled his eyes, wiping his hands on his pants and walking up to the door.

A thud from inside made Ryo’s head snap up. Alarmed, he ran in and down the hall. “Sion?!”

Rounding the corner into the small kitchen next to the living room, Ryo spotted Sion on the floor next to the sink. His eyes widened and he shot to the younger’s side, falling to his knees. “Sion? Sion, what happened?”

Sion seemed dazed, blinking rapidly and words slurring as he spoke. “I’m fine. Just a little dizzy, nothing to worry about.” He tried and failed to push himself up, and Ryo caught him when he pitched forward a second time.

“Sion,” Ryo warned. “Tell me.”

No response. Sion’s head lolled to the side and came to rest on Ryo’s exposed forearm. Ryo jolted in shock.

Sion’s skin was burning hot.

Ryo pressed the back of his hand to Sion’s forehead. The heat radiated off of the younger’s skin, how had he not noticed before?

Gathering Sion up in his arms, Ryo carried him out to the living room and laid him on the couch.

“What happened?” he demanded, fingers deftly removing Sion’s jacket.’’

A whimper escaped the back of Sion’s throat. “I don’t-” He swallowed, eyes watering. “Leg hurts.”

Ryo pulled up both legs of Sion’s pants. There.

On Sion’s left leg, just above his ankle, was a black mark the size of Ryo’s hand.

“I think… last night. It touched me. I didn’t think that-”

Hands hovering over the mark, Ryo cursed. “Do you have a first aid kit?”

Sion pointed at the kitchen. “Cupboard above… above the sink.”

“Okay. Stay still,” Ryo ordered, bolting into the kitchen. He returned a moment later, first aid kit in hand, and settled down next to the couch.

The kit wasn’t very big, just a roll of bandages, some antibiotics, and other small things.

“The veins around the area are black, too,” Ryo muttered. “What happened last night?”  
  


Sion squinted at Ryo. “You were in trouble, so I… I left the motel.”

“That’s it?” Ryo said skeptically.

“It can tell when you’re exposed. I guess… I’ve avoided it for longer, so it wants me more?”

Nodding absentmindedly, Ryo finished bandaging the wound.

This new development was concerning, to say the least. Sion had been fine that morning, but a normal infection usually took a little longer to spread _this_ much – meaning that whatever it was, it was fast-acting. Who knows how Sion would feel an hour from now, two hours from now?

“Sion?” The younger looked up sleepily at the sound of Ryo’s voice. “The thing, is it bound to the town?”

Sion shrugged, and the movement was slightly hindered by the many blankets propping him up. “Probably. It’s hungry, so if it could feed elsewhere, it would.”

That settled it then. If the infection was from the thing, it might disappear once they crossed the town line.

They had to leave tonight.

  * • •



“This is a terrible plan,” Sion mumbled for the millionth time that night.

Ryo grimaced. It really was. “Only plan we have on such short notice.”

Humming, Sion tucked his chin over Ryo’s shoulder. “At least you know it’s a bad plan,” he offered.

“Yeah, because knowing a plan is bad will make it work.”

They hadn’t had much time to figure out a real plan, what with being preoccupied with Sion’s infection all day. The symptoms had just gotten worse, the fever rising to dangerous levels that had resulted in Ryo giving Sion an impromptu ice bath.

Needless to say, they hadn’t come up with a good plan. They’d barely come up with _this_ one, and even that was rushed.

What is this terrible plan, you ask? It was simple enough: leave at night.

Simple, until Ryo got to the part about running from monsters while carrying Sion on his back.

“We can always go back to the motel,” Sion whispered. The night was falling fast, as it always did in the strange town. “It’s not too late, we can make it to the motel before they come out if we go now.”

Ryo shook his head and readjusted his grip on Sion’s legs. “Right. And you’ll be dead by morning? I don’t think so. We’re leaving.”

The arms around Ryo’s neck tightened. “…Ryo, I don’t-”

“I promised, Sion,” Ryo interrupted. “I keep my promises.”

Sion didn’t reply, and Ryo could feel the younger’s subtle trembling through his shirt.

Holding onto Sion’s legs a little more firmly, Ryo gently bumped his head against Sion’s. “Hey. Trust me, okay?”

It took a moment, but Sion’s grip eased.

“Okay.”

They had come to a silent agreement to not talk about it. How many ways their dumb plan could go wrong. They didn’t know for sure if the town would let them out at night. They didn’t know for sure if they could make it to the boundary before the dark reached them.

Either they succeeded, or they died. No second chances.

Ryo took a deep breath, feeling the night come alive. They’d waited at the gas station, the only fixed point before the town boundary. The sprint would be short, if everything went according to plan. They’d be out before the dark caught up.

The town rippled.

Ryo tensed.

It didn’t finish clearing before he charged. Sion yelped, his arms and legs constricting around Ryo’s torso.

Fluid shadows raced across the ground. Hissing and shrieking, reaching out for Ryo’s ankles.

_Almost there, almost-_

Ryo leapt across the town boundary, and the weight disappeared from his back.

Suddenly off-balance, Ryo stumbled. He spun around, eyes wide, and found Sion a little ways away, laying on the ground.

“Sion!” Ryo flew to Sion’s side, lifting the gasping boy into his arms. “Sion, are you alright?”

Sion’s fingers curled into Ryo’s jacket. “Get out,” he managed. “Get out, you’re still inside.”

Ryo cursed and moved to stand with Sion still cradled against his chest.

“No!” Sion cried out in pain. “No, leave me here, just go.”

Glancing at the advancing tide of darkness, Ryo shook his head. “Why the hell would you think I’d do that?” he snapped.

“Ryo. I can’t leave.”

The arms around Sion faltered. “What?”

“We were right.” Sion let his head rest against Ryo’s chest. “The infection in my leg _is_ connected to the town. I can’t leave while it’s in me, and we don’t have time to get it out now. Go, please.”

A guttural snarl came from close by, and Ryo looked up to see the demonic shades edging nearer.

He came to a decision.

Ryo turned his back to the dark, sitting cross-legged in the middle of the street. Pulling Sion closer, he curled his body protectively around the younger.

“What are you doing?” Sion’s voice rose with every word as he tried to push Ryo away. “Ryo, what are you _doing_? Get out!”

Everything around them seemed to grow quiet. The dark still howled, but Ryo couldn’t hear it.

All that existed was him and the tears in Sion’s eyes.

“I told you,” Ryo murmured. “I won’t leave you.”

Nothing else mattered.

Tears streamed down Sion’s face. “You promised,” he choked. “You promised I wouldn’t have to bury you.”

Ryo smiled softly. “You won’t.”

“Liar.”

Leaning down, Ryo pressed his forehead against Sion’s. “Close your eyes,” he commanded.

The darkness reared back.

“I promise you won’t be alone,” Ryo whispered. “Never again.”

The night fell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end.
> 
> I had a lot of fun writing this, I hope you enjoyed it too!
> 
> I had an idea for an epilogue, which I might still post, but I'm on the fence about it. If I do post it, I'll probably post it separately.


End file.
